The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled a new form of rivalry among countries that some have compared to that of the Cold War. The similarities are undeniable. However, there is a striking difference: In the time of the coronavirus, international rivalry has become a daily matter.
The first attempt at “weaponizing” information came from the Chinese as early as the first days of the appearance of the virus in the United States. Chinese sources claimed that the American government had deployed military forces in many cities to ensure the lockdown. Then, Chinese officials, through their personal accounts, criticized the U.S., claiming that it had introduced the coronavirus to China, using it as a bioweapon. This was reminiscent of the Cold War, as the mere mention of biological warfare, even though an old disinformation tactic, remains an effective one.
Until recently, the West regarded the network of the Confucius Institutes and Public Diplomacy as primary sources of China’s influence in the international arena. Since 2018 however, China has constructed an immense digital infrastructure using new, improved methods that do not simply manipulate the recipient’s emotions but also disorganize both smaller and larger social groups, using psychological modeling.
Russia, also, presents an interesting case. Russian services have vast experience and tradition, in disseminating disinformation and in hybrid operations. Russia is one of those countries that use the manipulation of information as a prime “weapon” to gain a larger share of power. Russia aggressively employs this form of asymmetric warfare, fully aware that today, it is social networking and not the mainstream media that exclusively provides information to citizens.
A successful campaign of disinformation must not originate from a single source. This is precisely the tactic of “chaotic order” that both China and Russia have adopted in the case of COVID-19. The use of many sources makes it difficult to trace the actual origin, confuses the target, prevents the recipient from analyzing and evaluating the message, and facilitates the dissemination of “noise” between the transmitter and receiver, making the real target of the message impossible to be identified, thus leading the recipient to a number of interpretations. These are, by definition, the characteristics of successful propaganda. During the pandemic, it became quite obvious that China and Russia have learned from one another. Russia has profited from China in the area of artificial intelligence, big data, and gaming, while China has gained technical knowledge from Russia in social networking.
It has also become apparent that a vast part of the two countries’ methods of influence has been transferred from the World Wide Web to the Deep Web. The source of the propaganda has become practically impossible to identify and dealt with because it mimics the mainstream media and is presented as a means of activism, etc. In this “grey game,” these two countries have joined forces with Iran and Turkey, in accordance with their geopolitical ambitions.
By comparing the objectives and methods of China and Russia and their disinformation campaigns during the pandemic, we can conclude the following: China’s intentions were to emerge as a world leader and as the savior of mankind from the health risks of COVID-19, as well as being the nation that had triumphed over the crisis. Its method was the manipulation of the mass media. Russia’s intention on the other hand, was to spread division in the United States and the EU by aggravating tensions and instigating a sense of panic due to the coronavirus. This was achieved by disseminating fake news and messages designed to provoke alarm.
The assessments and opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author himself and in no case of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
